City letting agents see rise in home arrears

Lighthouse Property Services in Lincoln is warning landlords to protect themselves and their homes after seeing a rise in tenant evictions and arrears.

The warning comes after a survey by Templeton LPA, which found that in England and Wales severe rental arrears rose 13% year on year in Q2 to 74,492.

Evictions also increased 9% in the same time frame.

Managing Director Tim Clark said: “For landlords, particularly those who rely on the monthly rental income from their property to pay the mortgage, even one month’s arrears in this financial climate can be frustrating.

“Fortunately we’ve been able to keep our rent arrears running at a similar level to last year despite an increase in the number of tenants defaulting because a large proportion of our private landlords have rent guarantee insurance in place.”

Many agencies, such as Lighthouse Property Services, help landlords with such insurance offers as 12 months’ rent guarantee insurance.

This protects landlords against various letting issues, such as tenants being in arrears.

Clark added: “Unemployment is one of the main reasons why tenants default on their rental payments and no matter how well referenced a tenant is, no-one can guarantee that they will always be able to meet their financial obligations.”

“For this reason we’re including a full year’s cover within our fees (subject to the tenant being approved) to ensure we provide the maximum protection for our landlords at an affordable and competitive rate.”